Third Class Elite
by Oreo2882
Summary: When Bardock's squad was ambushed by Dodoria, he vowed to get revenge. But what if Tora and Fasha had survived? Frieza and the PTO will be in for quite a shock when they eventually discover Dodoria's mistake. Tora/Fasha, with some later pairings established and hinted at. Rated T, might go to M later for coarse language. Currently revising early chapters.
1. Prologue 1: Survivor

A/N: Alright, I suppose this is the part where I tell you, the reader, where this escapade is starting, right? Well, then I guess I'll tell you then! Ha. Not funny. I know. Anyway, this starts a few days after the ambush on Planet Meat, right about the time in the special that Bardock is attempting to rally some sort of defense against Frieza.

I don't own DBZ, it belongs to Akira Toriyama. Lucky duck!

* * *

Tora, Present Time

"_It was a setup… Frieza, he wanted us all dead!"_

"_But why?! We took on th-"_

"_We were getting to be the best, Bardock. He was getting scared. Frieza's… scared… of you. Good… luck…"_ With that, my eyes had closed, and I breathed what I thought was my last breath. An enraged Bardock avenged us, making short work of Dodoria's Elites. But even he was blown away by that monster's blast, and that was the last thing I'd felt before losing consciousness.

I was the first to wake up, the hunger which gripped me being the only indication that days had passed since we were ambushed. Fasha, the spunky little brat, woke up a few moments later, and it didn't take us long to realize we were the only two who would. Borgos and Shugesh lie dead on the field; Bardock was nowhere to be found. We two survivors of the battle appraised each other while clutching at half-healed wounds that should have killed us a dozen times over.

"Heh! You've looked better, Fasha." Even to my own ears, my voice was wheezing, pathetic.

"Ha. Have you seen your own reflection lately!?"

I managed a weak laugh; we may be beaten, but we were by no means broken… well, at least our spirits weren't. Our bodies were a different story; I could barely move my limbs, and Fasha's prone form on the ground next to me wasn't likely to move too far either. But that didn't stop us from trying.

"Tora… I can't get up. How bout you?"

"Hnnngh!" I gave it my utmost, only to end up flat to the ground again.

"Doesn't look like it… Damn." We fell back to the ground, breathing heavily from the exertion. We ended up laying there for a few minutes like this before Fasha spoke again.

"Why aren't we dead?" I pondered the question myself; just what had happened? I thought hard… and remembered.

"Bardock… came for us…" My speech was slow, and my voice filled with a mix of concentration and awe as I focused on remembering and was amazed at what Bardock had done.

"Dodoria's squad, Bardock killed them all without even taking a single hit!.. But then Dodoria showed up with that damned mouth blast of his… and I was unconscious."

Fasha groaned; we had both hoped that Bardock would somehow survive, but if Dodoria had won their battle, then it was highly unlikely. Silence reigned for a few minutes as we privately mourned Bardock, Shugesh, and Borgos. As warriors, we did not allow ourselves to cry, but at the same time we just couldn't move on right away. I clenched my eyes shut as I pulled myself into a sitting position. Beside me, I could feel Fasha pulling herself up as well.

"Tora… if Frieza was paranoid enough to go after third class Saiyans like us… then do you think…" I could feel my throat clench as the horror built, causing my head to turn to meet Fasha's widened eyes, a mirror of my own. I was the first to speak.

"We have to get out of here! Now!" My voice nearly broke as I scrabbled to find the remote for my attack pod. Luckily, it hadn't broken under my armor's wrist guard. Fasha produced only a mangled tangle of metal and wires.

"Good thing we decided to add the 'Gather All' feature to the remotes!" I hacked out a laugh, and even Fasha smirked at that one; Bardock had been against it, but Fasha had pointed out that while Saiyans were tough, we weren't invincible, and it was likely that one of us might get our remotes broken at some point. Bardock had eventually relented, and they'd saved up to have the feature added to their remotes.

A few minutes passed as we waited for our pods; apparently, the battle with Dodoria's thugs had apparently taken them all the way to the other side of the planet. But that wasn't the only surprise. When the pods did arrive, there were only four of them.

The two survivors exchanged looks again, this time puzzled.

"But… where's Bardock's pod?"

"Maybe he got away?" My voice wavered, but that was the only possibility that made sense. "Yeah… he must have."

"Maybe… well, are we going or not?" I shook myself from my pondering to find Fasha already strapped into her pod, giving me a look that said something like _"get your ass moving you big clown!"_

"Right, right, we've got a planet to save!" My tone was confident… but in reality, I was shitting bricks, and I'm sure Fasha was too. But of course, neither of us would let the other see; we're Saiyans, after all!

"To Planet Vegeta!" I called out, and my closed pod responded by taking off, along with Fasha's and the two empty ones. I could only hope we could make it in time to warn everybody.

* * *

Will Fasha and Tora get back to Planet Vegeta in time to warn the rest of their race? Find out next time! And please please please please PLEASE review, let me know what you think I can do better!

And a shout out to Star 870 for being the first reviewer!


	2. Prologue 2: Don't Cry

Disclaimer: As much as I wish I did, I DON'T own DBZ… but man do I wish I did!

A/N: I noticed that I had a few errors in the last chapters, which I have now fixed. Stupid me!

* * *

Fasha

I really am glad that our attack pods come outfitted with some medical capabilities. Besides being able to automatically bandage up burns and cuts, they could also put us in stasis until we arrived at our destination. Tora and I opted to take advantage of this, allowing ourselves to be placed in medical stasis for the journey back to Vegeta. And by Vegeta, I mean Vegeta the Planet, not Vegeta the King, or Vegeta the Prince. Kami! Our king may not have much imagination, but he certainly has the ego to make up for it, naming the planet after himself and then following suit with the prince when he was born. Sheesh! But I digress.

Anyway, the journey to Planet Vegeta was uneventful, as might be expected. Stasis slows the body's processes down to levels just high enough to survive, which means that while it took days to reach Planet Vegeta, it felt as if I just stepped in my pod, closed my eyes, and opened them a moment later to find myself in orbit around what was once a proud planet.

"Uh… Tora, you're seeing this too, right?" Shock. That's all I felt as Tora's reply came through numbed ears. While it had occurred to us back on Meat, we had not thought Dodoria meant that Frieza actually meant to destroy the entire Saiyan race. My heart was in my throat as I suppressed the urge to cry, from both sorrow and rage. I just could _not _accept this!

"By the Kais… My parents… My sister… The King… _Everyone!"_ Tora's voice displayed all the emotion I was trying to keep bottled up, and something about hearing _Tora _in a slump, combined with what I was now seeing… I snapped.

"Frieza is going to pay! You hear me, Tora‽ Kami as my witness, Frieza is going to _frakking_ pay!" My tears spilled out then, but I did not sob. I was still a Saiyan, and Saiyans never show weakness, even in the worst of circumstances. Instead, I screamed.

"You hear me, Tora‽ We may not be able to now, but we're going to train until we're strong enough to tear that wretched excuse of a creature from limb to limb! And you know what else‽ We're also going to beat that fat pig Dodoria into a bloody pulp one of these days before he grovels at our feet and _begs_ for the mercy he didn't show us! You got that, Tora‽"

Silence reigned. On the inside of my pods' door, a screen showed the inside of three other pods, two of them empty. The fourth, of course, showed Tora. His expression was stoic, though I could see the tears that had streamed out. I pretended not to notice, and I was sure he was doing the same for me. He nodded in acknowledgement of my rant, then proceeded to give orders. Though we had both been part of Bardock's squad from the beginning, and the three of us had been in another squad before that, Tora was the senior of us two in terms of battle experience.

"You're right, Fasha. But first things first, we need to figure out where to go. We may not technically be fugitives, but if we were to go back to the PTO, Frieza would be sure to have us eliminated simply because we know what actually happened. Which means we need to hide." I smiled grimly, glad to see Tora shocked into action, even if he was still obviously numb. Still, I did have one concern.

"Shouldn't we check for survivors?" The confusion had to have shown in my expression, but Tora calmly explained why we wouldn't do that.

"Frieza's sure to have someone watching the place; he might even be here himself. If so, any attempt at communication will end up with us being pinpointed and blown out of the sky. In fact, I'm surprised that they haven't locked in on our transmission ye- ACK!"

"ACK!" We shouted in unison as a ki blast roared by our formation. In the blink of an eye, Tora killed the transmission, and Fasha shut down all power in her pod except for the bare minimum for life support. Well, that and enough power to track the beam on my external camera. I was shocked when I saw what it was racing towards; it was another pod!

"Fasha. Let's go; this is the best chance we're going to get. Come on." In any other circumstances, that would have been unforgiveable. But seeing as there was nothing we could do to help the lone Saiyan without getting ourselves killed in the process… we ran away while the other ship was distracted. The stigma on my honor remains to this day.

"Good luck…" I whispered as we drifted away, holding no illusions as to the likely fate of that Saiyan but at the same time hoping against all odds that he/she would escape.

6 hours later, along with at least 20 course corrections, we finally felt safe enough to point our pods towards a random planet on the charts and put our pods into stasis. The journey would take a whole year, but under stasis, we would not even notice. One year before we reached our destination, a backwater the star chart had marked as Earth.

* * *

And they're off to Earth! Not much else that needs to be said. Read and review!


	3. Prologue 3: Kakarot, Son of Bardock

Disclaimer: DBZ is not mine… but the story I'm creating is!

* * *

Tora

"_Man, have I got to take a piss!" _I found myself thinking as I was woken from stasis. But that could wait until I attended to the more pressing matter at hand, landing on this blue and green orb called Earth. I had no doubts that if the PTO had actually ever scouted this planet, it would have been deemed pretty valuable, all the intelligent life cleared away to make room for a very wealthy bidder. Fasha immediately gave voice to those thoughts, but with more practical concerns.

"Shouldn't a planet like this have attracted attention from the PTO? Whether or not Frieza had planned on selling it just yet, it'd be unlike him not to have some sort of surveillance on the planet." Fasha's image on the screen frowned, and I mirrored her. Considering the day… erm… year… we'd had, it'd be just our luck to have accidentally chosen a deathtrap as a refuge. But somehow, I had a feeling that this blue-green orb would hold our salvation rather than certain doom.

"_What would you do, Bardock?"_ The question formed unbidden in my subconscious, and for a few minutes I sat there considering the options. I could either pick another planet to take refuge on and hope there would be no PTO presence there, or I could decide to stay here on Earth… I decided to investigate some more before deciding one way or another.

"Let's take a closer look. Our sensors aren't picking up anything within the solar system, but there might be something on the ground that they missed." Fasha made a sound in agreement, and with the push of a button Tora ordered the four pods (A/N: I do believe I mentioned that they took Borgos' and Shugesh's pods) to make a close orbit around the planet. He sighed as he settled in for what would be at least an hour of scanning; that piss would have to wait. But then something occurred to me.

"Hmm… you know, Fasha, I think I remember Bardock mentioning that he was volunteering his youngest son for assignment. You think he might have made it off planet before Frieza attacked?" It was a shot in the dark, but I was curious as to Fasha's appraisal of his chances.

"Well, without either parent to actually raise the child, and being pretty weak, what was he, a two?" She shook her head with a small smile. "Given that, there's a very good chance that he _was _sent away, you know. I bet little Kakarot is out there somewhere, safe and unknown to Frieza."

It allowed me to hope.

"Poor Raditz, though." We trailed off into a silence; no hiding that we were perturbed over the probable fate of Bardock's elder son. And in our Saiyan pride we could not admit that we felt such an emotion as serious worry, so we settled into an awkward silence as we waited for our pods to finish the orbital scan.

_Beep._

The scan had found something.

"Shit! Toraaa…" Fasha's voice was pleading, with a tint of carefully suppressed panic layered in. I felt the same.

"Yeah, I know!" My hands began to blur as I plotted out a new course for some other backwater planet, but the mechanical voice that came in over the ships speakers stopped me. The transmission was garbled with static, but they could make out disjointed syllables.

"_This is... Pod 4...38… Occupan… yan…" _

My eyes bugged out at that; it was an automated transmission from a Saiyan Pod, which meant another survivor!

"Unidentified Pod, this is Attack Pod 245967, Occupant: Tora. Please repeat your last transmission in burst text; you're breaking up."

There was a pause while we waited for the pod to respond, and Fasha used the chance to exchange an incredulous glance with me via screen.

"Talk about lucky!" I nodded in agreement with her assessment, a grin spreading over my face as I started to read the reply on the fourth, previously blank screen.

"_Attack Pod 245967, Occupant: Tora, this is Attack Pod 498380. My occupant has been on this world for 4 local years. However, his scouter remains onboard, and he has not returned to my location since landing. I believe he requires assistance; the child arrived too late to take advantage of the Earth's lunar cycle and enter his Oozaru state, and was subsequently taken upon arrival by an Earthling. The child may need assistance. My own coordinates are…" _ Tora stopped reading to set the pods on a course to the coordinates listed. _"Thank you. Pod 498380, out."_

"Wow, another survivor! Let's go rescue the little guy!" Fasha's enthusiasm made me raise an eyebrow at her through the medium of our communication screens, causing her to mutter something about more Saiyans meaning a better chance of bringing down Frieza. Her face was her usual smug grin again as she pressed enter for the coordinates the downed pod had listed. Our pods took off at supersonic velocity, and we began our descent to the Earth.

* * *

Fasha

Every time we make an orbital drop, I can't help but think: this is frakking exhilarating. As we approached the planet, I couldn't help but appreciate the beauty of the blue and green orb; it really was breath taking, not that I'd ever admit it. I had about thirty seconds to admire it before we hit atmosphere. Then the blues and greens and browns of the planet's surface began to be tinted red and orange as flames engulfed our pods upon atmospheric re-entry. And the shaking and jarring! The only thing that could make me even more excited was a good fight!

I had to remind myself that there wouldn't be a fight down there, at least not one worth getting excited over. According to the data the pod on the surface had transmitted, the Earthling's average power was a measly five or six scouter units, with the strongest individuals displaying no more than 200. It was a shame, really; Kakarot would be strong enough to finish his mission by the age he'd be old enough to fully understand it. Of course, Tora and I had different plans for this world.

"What the…" I heard over the scouter, shaking me out of my thoughts. I blinked, and I instantly felt a smirk forming on my face.

"Yaaaahoooooo!" I crowed as I bounced off the mountain, and every bounce we made until we stopped. Mainly because it was frakking awesome, but also because I knew it annoyed Tora and the rest of the squad while they were still alive.

I laughed as I cycled the hatch open, only to meet a very bemused Tora grumbling as he took a piss, which of course made me laugh more; Tora always had been the calm one of the group, and the most annoyed by game Shugesh and I would make of crowing during drops.

"You're insane, Fasha." He allowed me to chuckle a little longer before pointing out the pod. It was about 20 meters from where we stood, and covered in vegetation. Obviously, it'd been there a while. My laugh died when I realized just how long the minimum time frame would be for plant life to be growing over an attack pod.

"Uhh, Tora, how long ago did that pod get here again?" I felt a sickening feeling of unease rising over me as I thought of the odds of the child surviving on his own... then instantly dismissed the thought of one of those Earthlings actually being able to hurt a Saiyan. It was preposterous.

"About 4 years, according to the transmission. Which means the child could be anywhere on the planet by now. I'll check the pods' records to see if there are any clues as to the occupant's whereabouts." Tora's voice was dispassionate, almost lethargic as he dug through the pod, searching for the correct interface for accessing camera feed logs. I could understand his tone of voice though; while Tora was actually pretty good with technology, it took most of his concentration.

"You nearly done there, grease monkey?" Tora's spluttering was reward enough for the double insult*. I smirked.

"For your information, you little chimpanzee*, I am done. And you'll never bet who that pod was carrying." Tora now wore a smirk that could match mine in evil intent… and that was saying something. "Take a look."

Were we in a more casual situation, I might have refused to out of stubborn pride. Not having that luxury though, I succumbed to the curiosity that had taken hold of me and took a look at the log Tora had pulled up.

"Computer, play log." A simple enough command, but one that completely put the meaning back in my life.

"_Kakarot?"_

For once, I was left speechless by the good fortune we seemed to have been blessed by Kami with. To not only find a planet we could easily hide on, blend in with the natives of, and be completely unnoticed by Frieza, but to also find Bardock's son here… I was overjoyed.

"Well, let's go find him. Let's see, he was taken by this elderly human? Computer, transmit image and power reading to scouter memories." A short pause, followed by a beep from my scouter, Tora's, and Kakarot's on the seat of his pod. I scooped up the latter as I backed away from the pod.

"Well, Tora, do you have any ideas?" As much as I hated to admit it, Tora really was the smarter of us two. And while I did indeed have an idea, I decided I'd rather wait and see what Tora might come up with first.

"Well, judging by how soon Kakarot was picked up after he landed, and by how abandoned this region is compared to the rest of the planet, I would assume that the man must live nearby. That pole he was carrying also looks like it's a little too valuable for it to be meant to be a walking aid, which means it must be a weapon. It would then follow that he or someone he is close to is a warrior… perhaps he decided to raise Kakarot?"

I felt my jaw drop and my eyes widen halfway through that; was this the same Tora I had always known? That observation was actually rather astute, even for him. I had definitely decided that the man must live near, but I had not gone as far as to make the warrior connection. But, now that I thought about it, it made perfect sense.

"Umm… yeah, I think you're right. Let's go look for the little guy." I felt my face heat up as I took to the air, activating my scouter to scan for power levels. The theory was that any warrior would have a level higher than any wildlife, and it would then be a matter of going through the highest levels by process of elimination.

"Fasha, keep an eye out for any power level over 100. Even if that man wasn't a warrior, Kakarot at least should have reached that by now."

I cursed to myself as I readjusted my scouter; of course I hadn't thought of that. But as quickly as I mentally kicked myself, I found myself calling out.

"I've got one reading over the 100 mark. About 1000 meters that way." I pointed towards a distant stream.

"Alright, then, let's go!" Tora yelled as he shot past me. I smirked as I followed. At long last, things were beginning to look up.

* * *

Kakarot

It had been a normal day for me. Even before the monster came and killed my grandpa, I would spend my days training and looking for food. Now that grandpa was dead, though, I had to spend a lot more time gathering food. That was okay though, because I would also get my training in by eating things like wolves and dinosaurs. But that day, I somehow knew that things were going to change. So I waited at my house. It wasn't even midday yet when I saw four stars fall from the sky and hit the mountain. It was only another 20 minutes before I saw two people flying towards me. They were older than me, but I could see that they had tails like mine. Maybe they could tell me why Grandpa didn't have one.

The shorter one looked kind of strange. For one thing, his eyes were purple. And he had these weird lumpy things sticking out of his chest. But that wasn't even as weird as their clothes! They were both wearing the same thing… kinda. The tall one had two hard things over his shoulders and also over the sides of his leg and hanging in front of him. The short one's clothes were somehow hanging off just one of his shoulders, and one of his legs had a cloth covering it but the other one didn't. It all looked like it was broken too, which would kinda make sense if they'd been in a tough fight and lost.

"Why are you guys all beat up? Did you lose a fight?" I watched with interest as the two looked at each other. "And what are those over your eyes? Is that some sort of… um…" I struggled to remember the word Grandpa had used. "Mek-tol-oh-gi?" I scratched the back of my head and smiled, hoping I'd gotten the word right.

"Technology." The tall one said as the short one just laughed. Close enough! "And yeah, we got into a really bad fight. We barely got away."

"Oh… well, at least you learned some new stuff, right? My grandpa always taught me that you learn the most when you fight really strong opponents, even if you lose!" I smiled again before sticking my hand out.

"My name is Son Goku, what are yours?"

The two looked at each other again, and I started to wonder what that look meant.

"Uh… Goku, you said? I'm Tora, and this is Fasha. Tell me, did your grandpa have a tail?" He sounded nice, so I didn't mind talking to him.

"No… how come me and you guys do, but he didn't?" I really wanted to know now that I saw other people with tails.

"Well, you see, Goku, that's because your grandpa is human, and you're a Saiyan. So are Fasha and I."

I thought about that one for a minute. "So you're saying that Grandpa and me are different? Does that mean that he wasn't really my Grandpa?"

The tall man shook his head up then down, then said yes. I frowned; I had always known that in the back of my head, but even if he wasn't really my Grandpa, he was the closest thing to family I'd ever had, so I would always think of him as Grandpa Gohan.

"Well, if Grandpa was human and humans come from Earth, where do Saiyans come from?" Even though everything I'd ever known was being turned upside down, I didn't find any of it weird at all. Maybe it was because these guys were the same as me.

"We come from Planet Vegeta, kid. So did you. If you want, we could show you the ship you came here in." The short guy finally spoke up before the tall one could. I shook my head left and then right though; as cool as that would be, I wanted to hear more about where we came from than look at whatever this 'ship' thing was.

I asked about 20 more questions, and for some reason, the tall one thought it was really funny when I asked why the short one had lumps on her chest, and the short one had turned red all over before he… I mean she explained what the difference between a boy and a girl was. That was when I asked the question I'd been itching to ask for a while now.

"Are you my mommy and daddy then?"

I was kind of sad when they told me no. But then they told me that they had known my daddy, so I asked the next question that came to mind.

"What was his name?"

Bardock. He was a great warrior, and also Tora's and Fasha's leader. I was really happy to hear that; maybe they could teach me to become really strong! From what they'd told me, they'd be staying here for a really long time to become stronger themselves, so maybe they could help me! They looked at each other again when I asked them that, and this time it didn't take them long to say yes. I was so happy thinking about how one day I would be strong like them, that I almost forgot to ask.

"Umm… what's my name? You know, my _real_ one?" Tora put his hand in my hair and scratched my head before answering in a really happy voice.

"Kakarot. Your name is Kakarot, son of Bardock, mightiest warrior of the great Planet Vegeta. Bear that name with pride."

* * *

A/N: *Calling a Saiyan a monkey, ape, or any associated subspecies is comparable to calling a person of African descent a n****r; you're signing your own death warrant by doing so. And of course, any warrior being called a mechanic is going to be rather angry.

A/N: Goku is about 5 years old here. He's already killed his grandpa while in Oozaru form (of course, he doesn't realize he himself is the monster). While he is more intelligent than the Goku of DBZ actual, he's also younger than when first encountered, so he's more impressionable (and has lost less of the knowledge I'm fairly certain Grandpa Gohan would have instilled him with by this point).

Well, that's the prologue finished! Now to skip forward to the Saiyan arc! Please review, I _do _listen to constructive criticism. Actually I welcome it. Criticize me, dammit! ^_^


	4. AN 1: 10 Year Interim

Before I start the next chapter, I need to clarify a few things.

First: This is set about 10 years after the end of the Prologue. Kakarot is 15 years old. Tora and Fasha have a 9 year old daughter. As for how Tora and Fasha go from constantly bickering to having a baby… I MIGHT make that into a separate one-shot, or maybe a short story. I might also make a few other little fun fics to fully explain Kakarot's and the girl's adventures between the prologue and now. It'll also be explained over the story. I know the (other) Saiyans aren't supposed to come for another 10 or 11 years, but I don't want to make them wait that long. After all, I DO have to show how much of a different person Kakarot would be if he was raised by Tora and Fasha rather than being on his own after Grandpa Gohan died. And while I do feel comfortable skipping some of his childhood, there's no way I could skip through his teen years all the way through until his mid to late twenties, and then try to explain why he all of a sudden went from cute, naïve, and NICE to your typical Saiyan: rude, crude, and just plain MEAN. Nope, not happening.

However, I will explain what I did skip over.

Most of Dragonball still happens. But instead of Bulma being a 17 year old girl looking for the dragonballs to wish for the perfect boyfriend, she's an 11 year old looking for bodyguards to accompany her and she instead wants to wish for an unlimited supply of strawberries.

The most recent thing to occur is Kakarot's victory in the 23rd Budokai Tenkaichi. The other Saiyans arrive the day after.

Things that DIDN'T HAPPEN:

Goku never promised to marry Chi-Chi, as Tora and Fasha explained the concept after conceiving. Thus, Chi-Chi eventually gets over her crush on Goku, though they remain friends (and she joins the Z fighters).

Oolong didn't wish for panties; fearing to hear the word 'piggy' out of Bulma, he wishes for an unlimited supply of strawberries at Capsule Corp.

Kakarot never trains at Roshi's; thus, he and Krillin aren't as close; Kakarot is closer to Yamcha than Krillin.

Kami doesn't make Kakarot stay on the lookout to train for the 23rd Budokai Tenkaichi, as he has been more than sufficiently trained in ki manipulation by Tora and Fasha.

Kakarot is never able to use the Nimbus, as his pure mind is corrupted by living with Tora and Fasha.

OC's IMPACT on the original series:

OC participates in the 22nd Budokai Tenkaichi on her 6th birthday (Kakarot is 12). She loses to Tien Shinhan in the Quarterfinals, though just barely.

OC reveals Piccolo Jr during the semifinals of the 23rd Budokai Tenkaichi (on her 9th birthday). She still loses, but because Piccolo defeated her without energy attacks and the crowd dispersed upon realizing who he was, Piccolo never considered harming innocents in his fight with Kakarot. He realizes that Kakarot and OC must have a powerful trainer, and that he'll never prevail against them all. Thus, he goes to the Saiyan's landing site in order to see just what he's up against. Piccolo, while not evil, is still sort of a 'grey' character, neither good nor bad at this point.

What have Tora and Fasha been doing? Training their asses off, that's what. They've gone from power levels of roughly 2k each to about 10k for Tora and 8k for Fasha (she fell behind while she was pregnant). While Kakarot and OC have been learning technique from Tora and Fasha, the reason Kakarot initially left with Bulma on their adventure and OC eventually goes down the same route is because they simply aren't strong or fast enough to keep up with Tora and Fasha. Kakarot's power level at the beginning of the next chapter will be about 2k, and OC's will be about 1500. Now since Kakarot is stronger at this point than he is in canon, everyone else will have to be too in order for this to still be interesting (but still sorta within reason).

Now I know I did just update this last night, but I post this with the intention of giving the readers a chance to poke a hole in my logic before I post the next chapter (which I'll start writing after I post this). Please, debunk my logic and constructively criticize if you feel it would be necessary. Everybody who's reviewed thus far knows that I listen to input; I mean, it wouldn't be as fun if I was writing this purely for myself, right?

Anyway, if you have thoughts or comments on my ideas, please share! Thank you! Hopefully, I'll have the first chapter done within the next couple of days.

Disclaimer: This is all tentative. Certain details might turn out differently, with or without reader input.


	5. Chapter 1: Saiyan Angst

Kakarot

_Clap._

A single pair of hands applauds my victory in the 23rd Budokai Tenkaichi. My eyes turn from my defeated opponent to the bruised and battered face that is smiling nonetheless. I allow my own smile to form; despite the battering she'd taken in the semifinal match immediately preceding my own, she's all unbridled enthusiasm and energy. And she alone had dared stay to watch my fight with the Demon King. Well, to watch it from the stands at least. I could sense the rest of my friends a short way off; Bulma, whom I've known the longest, physically weak but with the biggest heart of us all; Yamcha, ever blundering but faithful to a fault; Tien and Chiaotzu, enemies once but now stalwart allies; and Krillin, ever full of spirit. All my friends were gathered there, but no one compared to my best friend, the one who'd increased her power in such a short span of time just to be capable of fighting alongside me.

In the 22nd Budokai Tenkaichi, she'd breezed into the quarterfinals, but had promptly been eliminated in after a brief fight with Tien. She was only 6 years old at the time. Now, only 3 years later, she had managed to give Piccolo Jr. a run for his money without using ki attacks, whereas Krillin had barely even touched him. It was amazing just powerful she'd managed to become in just three years.

"Nice one, Kakarot!" The violet eyed, brown tailed little girl was still nothing but smiles when I descended back down to the ring… or what was left of it, anyway. The battle was fierce, with ki blasts flying everywhere, and-

"Kakarot, you're embellishing the story again, aren't you?" I growled mock-threateningly at that, though I have to admit she was right. I really had been, though for once I focused more on her incredible, if unsung part of the story.

"Callipa, do you know just how amazing you are?" Her smile froze for a moment before breaking into an even wider grin.

"Really Kakarot‽ That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me!" A split second later, I found myself caught in a Saiyan bear hug, which is something even I had trouble breathing through.

"Gah! Callie, you're crushing me!"

"Hah! As if! You could send me _flying _if you wanted too!" But she relented. Thankfully. But I did have to wonder; just why were we so comfortable with each other away from Tora and Fasha? I knew it wasn't just because we were expected to eventually mate (a thought which at the moment completely disgusts me, seeing as she just turned 9 years old today). Every one of our friends has mistaken Callipa for my sister upon meeting her, and I don't blame them. I just don't get why we're so relaxed and close away from Tora and Fasha, but as soon as we're back home with them it's nothing but sparring and Saiyan pride. I understand it, I really do! But at the same time… I just had to wonder why we can't just be ourselves all the time.

"Kakarot, are you okay?" Callipa's voice brought me back to reality. I gave me head a shake, then put my hand behind my head and smiled, putting those thoughts behind me for the moment.

"You bet! I'm kinda sore from that fight though!"

"Kakarot!" I heard my name being called by 9 different voices in tones ranging from joy to concern. I whipped my head around at this, prepared for the various tackles and bearhugs…

And was relieved when they all drew up just short, the worst of it being pats on the head and shoulders.

"Kakarot!"

"That was amazing!"

"Did you _have _to destroy the ring?"

"Hey, let him breathe you guys!"

"If he can take a bear hug from Callipa he can handle a few pats on the back!"

"Umm… Guys, I'm fine. Really. You can let go." My human and anthromorphic friends let go of me long enough to sit down, where I could survey my vanquished opponent.

"What will you do now, Piccolo?" I remained seated across from him as my friends reacted to my words. The non-fighters; Bulma, Oolong, Puar, and Master Roshi; backed away in instinctual fear, but quickly reigned it in about 5 steps behind the group. The rest of my friends took up wary fighting stances, and my ki sense quickly informed me that they were increasing their power levels to prepare for battle.

"Relax, you guys. Piccolo couldn't harm a fly by now." Callipa strode to the front of the group and crouched down in front of Piccolo, hips touching ankles as she peered down into his face.

"You might be almost perfectly matched with Kakarot, but you know by now that I'm strong enough to keep up with the both of you. You can't win." Callipa's voice was matter of fact to the point of being callous. And while she appeared to be the most relaxed of us all, her ki was flared to the max. True to her word, it wasn't as high as my maximum or Piccolo's, it would be more than sufficient to take care of the Demon King if he decided to try attacking. He wisely opted to refrain from trying.

"You know, Piccolo, you could do some pretty amazing things if you weren't so busy trying to take over the Earth."

"Hah, don't make me laugh, child! I might not be able to defeat your brother, but that doesn't mean I've given up on ever being stronger than him. Just you wait."

At that, Callipa and I couldn't control our laughter. Piccolo merely growled as he struggled to his feet, then limped away.

"Oh that was a good one, Callipa! Did you see the look on his face? Ahaha!"

Callipa laughed along with me, and it wasn't long before we were both rolling around while our friends looked on in shock.

"You guys really aren't worried? I mean I know you guys are strong but Piccolo is just as strong as you guys!" Krillin's astonishment manifested itself in words, and Chi-Chi was quick to voice her agreement.

"Yeah you two! Just because you're the strongest now doesn't mean he can't become stronger than you!"

Bulma was the only one with a knowing smirk. She'd known the two of them longer than anyone here, and she knew exactly why they were laughing like a pair of demented clowns.

"Trust me guys, I wouldn't be worried about that."

"Bulma, don't encourage them! This is serious!" Chi-chi, despite having just met most of them today and actually being the weakest fighter of the group (not including Chiaotzu), she had such a devastating glare that even Kakarot and Callipa wilted beneath it.

"Relax, Chi-chi, even if Piccolo somehow became stronger than us, Callipa's mom and dad could still kick his butt easy." I wasn't laughing anymore, but I did realize that I'd inadvertently let a huge secret spill out. And Callipa was elaborating on that rather than trying to cover it up.

"Yeah! Mom and Dad could beat all of us up without even breaking a sweat if they wanted to!"

Callipa and I sweat-dropped as the rest of the group sans Bulma fell over backwards in shock.

"Uhh… perhaps I'd better explain that one…"

* * *

Callipa

The faces around the table were staring at us in open mouthed shock, and not just at the pace and sheer quantity Kakarot and I had eaten. You see, Kakarot and I had just revealed our true origins. Yeah; now everyone knows that Kakarot and I are aliens from outer space, and the whole reason we're here is to train to become strong enough to kill some other really powerful alien from outer space. Oh, and on top of that, when we look at a full moon, we turn into giant rampaging apes that are strong enough to wipe out the entire population of the Earth in one short week. Yeaaah. I was surprised our friends were still there at the table with us and not running away in sheer terror. A quick glance sideways and I could tell Kakarot was thinking the same thing.

"Yeaaah… that's why my we don't train with my parents; they're simply too strong for us to keep up with them. So, while they do take the time to instruct us in technique, they prefer to fight each other since nobody else on the planet can even come close to touching them in a serious fight."

"While Callipa and I prefer the adventures we tend to get into with you guys to get stronger." Kakarot finished my thought for me, then launched into a deeper explanation.

"Back before our home world was destroyed, our entire race was enslaved by a tyrant named Frieza, a being with terrifying power. My dad was a warrior in Frieza's army."

"And my parents fought alongside him." I decided to take over the narrative at this point, though we traded several times during the telling. "Actually, Kakarot's dad was one of the strongest warriors of our race. He and my parents started to attract a lot of attention when they started taking on missions most of Frieza's soldiers wouldn't even consider taking. Eventually, he ended up getting hurt pretty bad on one of his missions."

"So, after bringing him home for treatment, Callipa's parents went on their next mission without waiting for my dad. That's when they were ambushed by Frieza's left hand man, a fat, pink bastard by the name of Dodoria. He killed the other two saiyans with Callipa's parents, then left the two of them for dead."

"Bardock showed up a little while after that. Dad says he doesn't remember much of it, and Mom doesn't remember at all, but when they woke up a few days later they figured out that Bardock killed Dodoria's men before going back to our planet to try to warn them Frieza was attacking. By the time Mom and Dad followed…"

I choked here, and Kakarot didn't immediately finish my sentence.

"Planet Vegeta was gone." I'm told that Kakarot and I said that at the same time, with the exact same solemn grimace. Kakarot finished the story for us after that, because I ended up crying so hard that I couldn't speak… Kakarot, on the other hand, was crying tears of rage, and his voice was starting to crack as it rose.

"And that's why when they got here, Tora and Fasha started training so they could get stronger, strong enough to kill Frieza! And that's why me and Callipa have to get stronger too! We have to avenge our race!" Kakarot had been gesticulating wildly, and with a distinct _crack _the table was cloven in two by his fist slamming down against it.

I got my sobbing under control, at that, but the tears flowed unchecked as I let my rage continue to course through me. I exchanged a glance and a nod with Kakarot, and a second later we were out the door of the restaurant and flying back to the ruins of the Martial Arts Temple to spar. And then, with twin roars, we rushed each other.

* * *

Tora

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

"Huh?" I pulled my scouter out of my jacket and placed it over my ear to assess the reading it was picking up. Fasha and I had shown up to watch Kakarot and Callipa fight in the tournament, as, after all, it was the so-called world championships. As expected, the two young Saiyans had done well, though Fasha and I had been surprised when Callipa was eliminated in the semi-finals. But, after checking the scouter readings, it hadn't come as much of a surprise. While Callipa had registered a maximum reading of 1700 and an average of 1500, her opponent had read an average of 2000 for the fight with Callipa, and had maxed out at 2250 in the fight against Kakarot, who had registered identical readings. That had made me grin; Kakarot may not have known it, but if Callipa had faced him in the semi-final bout rather than Piccolo, the end result might have been very different. Still, they were both improving at an impressive rate. Now that they were stronger than most of the other inhabitants of this planet, Fasha and I would have to handle the grunt work of training them ourselves. Still, they were almost as strong as we were when we first arrived on the planet, and they'd have us guiding them, so they would raise their power levels faster than we were able to. I was looking forward to that.

_Beep._

I shook myself back to the present. There were two power levels on Papaya Island that had just spiked at 2700 and 2400 respectively. I had a feeling I knew who those were, and with a smirk I flew back to the now-ruined Martial Arts Temple, knowing exactly where they'd be.

A few minutes later, I found myself very satisfied to find two young Saiyans in an all-out brawl. Kakarot had the upper hand as usual, but Callipa wasn't as outclassed as she normally was. Interesting; later, she'd have to check to see whether or not her absurd increase in power was permanent or just a fluke. Then I noticed; both of them were throwing technique to the wind. I frowned; they seemed angry.

"Don't forget your technique! You must control your anger, not the other way around!"

A visible change came over the both of them as they regained a little bit of sense, and in an instant they were fighting like the warriors they were rather than a pair of brutes.

Callipa was the first to land a major hit. Kakarot attempted a high kick to Callipa's right side, but he leaned too far back, allowing Callipa to parry the kick with her arm and deliver a solid left hook to Kakarot's suddenly open solar plexus. Kakarot was sent flying, and Callipa followed up the attack by phasing in and out of sight to deliver a double haymaker to Kakarot's back, which sent him flying into the ground, creating a small crater in the ground. To any semi-civilized being in the galaxy, it would appear that they were seriously attempting to kill each other rather brutally. But of course, with their saiyan physiology they felt more like they were just being jostled a bit. Of course, a saiyans' typical reaction would bring the first conclusion to mind rather than the second.

Kakarot immediately shot back into the sky with a roar that would make a charging yutaka* pause. Another flurry of blows was exchanged, and this time, Callipa took the hard hit. The younger Saiyan feinted a kick towards the elder's shin, then redirected her right-footed kick toward his chest. However, the more experienced warrior caught the kick by rotating 45 degrees to the left, sweeping his bent left arm to the left, ensnaring the younger's shin and calf between his bicep and tricep. He then rotated back 90 degrees left on his X-axis and 45 on his Y while delivering a right handed chop to the base of Callipa's spine. She went flying into the ground at a low angle and skidded, leaving a shallow trench in the ground.

The two young saiyans went through at least a dozen more of these exchanges before I finally decided to call an end to it.

"Enough!" The voice that tore through the night wasn't mine; all eyes snapped to its' source. I was pleasantly surprised; my mate stood opposite the ruined structure of the entry way, which I stood slightly inside of. Fasha was wearing her (minimal) armor and a frown, surveying the two young saiyans as they floated back down to the Earth.

"First off, that was a very good fight."

"Minus the first twenty minutes, that is. A warrior should _never _be ruled by his anger." I chimed in with that, as I was sure Fasha hadn't been there to witness the beginning of the fight. The two Saiyans simply glared at the ground, angry at… what, I could not be sure. Judging by the way they still stood near each other rather than attempting to create as much distance between themselves as possible, they weren't angry at each other.

"But why are you so angry?"

Fashas' question hung in the air as the young saiyans powered down. I found myself really wondering just what had occurred to put them in such a volatile state. Kakarot won the tournament, and Callipa was a semi-finalist, so I doubted they were angry due to the tournament. Other than that, there was no information to go on.

"Tora… Fasha… I… we told our friends about us." Kakarot was the first to speak out, but the words did not match the anger tinting his tone.

"_Everything _about us." Callipa clarified, just as angry. No perhaps anger wasn't the right word to describe the emotion emanating from these two young Saiyans. They were definitely pissed off, but… there was something more to it.

"My father."

"Our King."

"Our planet."

"Our race."

"Frieza." They trailed off, then with a primal scream they yelled out again.

"Frieza must pay!" Their ki soared as they yelled, actually manifesting as an aura. Fasha watched the numbers on her scouter, and was pleasantly shocked. For a brief instant, they pushed out a combined power reading of eight thousand. And then they passed out.

"Angst. Dear Kami, Fasha, I think they want to kill Frieza even more than we do!" The laugh she so obviously wanted to make died halfway out, and in mutual agreement we decided we wanted to scoop our daughter and our friends' son up and hold them close. We moved at the same time, and a moment later, Kakarot was slumped over my shoulder, and Callipa was held like a baby in Fasha's arms.

"Tora… they've gotten as strong as they will through adventuring on this planet."

"Yeah…" I muttered as I adjusted the unconscious Kakarot on my shoulder. I idly stopped to consider when I'd first peaked over the 2,000 mark. Was that really the level I was at when Dodoria ambushed us? I frowned at that. My life as one of Frieza's soldiers had been decidedly violent, yet somehow we had progressed in power very slowly over the years. Kakarot and Callipa were already close to surpassing the highest power we'd ever achieved as one of Frieza's soldiers, while Fasha and I had nearly caught up to Bardock's level before he'd been killed. Come to think of it, Bardock had been the one Saiyan I knew who would challenge opponents he knew he'd have a hard time against on a regular basis. When Bardock started taking on the Elite missions, our fights actually became challenging… more so than our training. And that's when we started becoming stronger. My eyes widened at that revelation: that was why Kakarot and Callipa were as strong as they were now, and why Callipa in particular had become so strong so fast; they'd only ever fought opponents stronger than themselves, vastly so in Callipa's case!

"Fasha… it's time for us to kick their training up a notch!" I grinned like a maniac at that, and Fashas' ever-evil smirk appeared. I never even noticed the awestruck humans who watched us fly towards home.

* * *

Authors Notes

*The yutaka is a hyena/tiger-like creature that could tear a couple T-rexes to shreds by itself. Very fierce, very made up.

Whew! That one was a doozy! I managed to get halfway in, and then completely restart it at least three times before I was satisfied with the story I was trying to tell this time around.

Now I was asked a very interesting question in response to my Author's Notes: why the decision to skip all of Dragon Ball?

To put it quite simply… I don't view that chunk of time as being part of this story. I originally intended it to be, but I realized that Toras' and Fashas' story would be quite short, with several sizeable gaps, while Kakarot's and Fasha's would be rather long, with few spaces. And they really would be two separate stories, one about learning to cope with the loss of everything you once knew and overcoming the pain of loss, whilst the other would be about growing up in two different worlds… they're two separate stories that'll merge into this one once I feel comfortable enough in my writing prowess to tackle those. I'll definitely delve into that… just not yet. In the meantime, that summary will have to serve to explain what happened in the meantime.

But thank you Simgr101 for bringing that up. That was a very good, you hit the nail on the head with that. Completely disregard the pm I sent you, I just didn't want to reveal my plans ^_^

Anyway, on to the next chapter! As always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, and unless I suddenly get flooded with it, I'll answer as much as I can! Well, without spoiling _too _much! ^_^


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